Florida Minimum Wage Laws: Rates, Overtime, and Exemptions

The Florida minimum wage is $14.00 per hour from September 30, 2025 through September 29, 2026, and it rises to $15.00 per hour on September 30, 2026.¹ That rate applies to nearly every non-exempt worker in the state, for every hour worked, regardless of employer size or industry. Because it’s nearly double the federal minimum of $7.25, the state rate is what almost every Florida employer must pay.²

What the Rate Will Be Next Year and After

Florida voters wrote a schedule of $1.00 annual increases into the state constitution in 2020. The last step in that schedule lands on September 30, 2026, when the wage floor reaches $15.00 per hour.³

After that, the rate is no longer fixed. Starting September 30, 2027, the state recalculates the minimum wage each year using the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the twelve months before September 1, and each new rate takes effect the following January 1.³ The first inflation-adjusted rate hits on January 1, 2028. The Department of Commerce publishes the new number on its website by October 15 each year.⁴

Tipped Employees

A tipped employee is anyone who regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips.⁵ Florida allows employers to take a tip credit of $3.02 per hour against the minimum wage. That credit is frozen at the 2003 federal amount because the state constitution locks it to that year’s figure.³

So at the current $14.00 minimum, tipped workers must receive a direct cash wage of at least $10.98 per hour.¹ Once the minimum wage moves to $15.00 in September 2026, the required direct cash wage becomes $11.98. If your tips plus the direct wage fall short of the full minimum in any workweek, the employer has to make up the difference. Employers who don’t give the required tip-credit notice lose the right to use the credit at all and owe the full minimum wage in cash.⁵

Managers and supervisors can’t take a cut of a tip pool.⁶ They can keep tips a customer hands them directly for service they personally provided, but nothing from a shared pool or jar.

Overtime

Florida has no state overtime law. Overtime comes from the federal FLSA, which requires 1.5 times your regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. At the $14.00 minimum wage, that’s $21.00 per overtime hour, and it becomes $22.50 once the minimum reaches $15.00. The same categories of workers exempt from minimum wage are also exempt from overtime.

Who Is Exempt

Florida’s minimum wage law uses the same exemptions as the federal FLSA.⁴ A few groups can legally be paid less than the standard rate or are outside the law entirely.

Workers Under 20

Employers can pay employees under 20 a training wage of $4.25 per hour during their first 90 consecutive calendar days on the job.⁷ The clock starts on the first day worked and counts every calendar day, including days off. When 90 days pass or the worker turns 20, whichever comes first, the full minimum wage kicks in.

Full-Time Students

Full-time students in retail, service, agriculture, or at a college or university can be paid 85% of the minimum wage if the employer holds a certificate from the U.S. Department of Labor.⁸ At $14.00 that’s $11.90 per hour, and at $15.00 it will be $12.75. The certificate also caps hours at 20 per week during school and 40 per week during breaks.

Salaried Executive, Administrative, and Professional Workers

These employees are exempt from minimum wage and overtime if they perform the duties defined in federal regulations for their category and are paid at least $684 per week on a salary basis.⁹ A separate exemption covers highly compensated employees earning at least $107,432 per year who perform at least one exempt duty.

Computer Professionals

Systems analysts, programmers, and software engineers can be exempt if they meet the duties test and earn either $684 per week on salary or at least $27.63 per hour.¹⁰ The qualifying work involves designing, developing, testing, or modifying computer systems and software. General IT support and hardware repair typically don’t qualify.

Agricultural Workers

Farmworkers are exempt if their employer used fewer than 500 “man-days” of agricultural labor in any calendar quarter of the previous year.¹¹ A man-day is a day on which an employee performs at least one hour of farm work. That threshold works out to roughly seven full-time employees for a full quarter, but a farm that leans on seasonal harvest crews can cross it with far fewer permanent staff.¹²

What Employers Have to Post and Keep

Every Florida employer has to display a minimum wage poster where employees can easily see it.¹³ The Department of Commerce issues updated English and Spanish versions by December 1 each year. The poster spells out the current rate, the anti-retaliation protections, and how to file a wage claim.

Under the FLSA, employers keep payroll records for at least three years, including hours worked, wages paid, and deductions.¹⁴ Records that explain wage decisions, like job evaluations or seniority systems, are kept for two years. Missing employer records tend to help employees when a wage dispute goes to court.

If You Aren’t Being Paid the Minimum Wage

You can’t go straight to court for a Florida minimum wage claim. The statute requires a specific notice first, and skipping it can sink the case.

Send Written Notice First

Before filing suit, send your employer a written notice that identifies the minimum wage you’re owed, the actual or estimated dates and hours you worked, and the total unpaid wages through the notice date.⁴ The employer then has 15 calendar days to pay in full or resolve the claim. The statute of limitations pauses during that 15-day window, so you don’t lose time by following the process.

Filing Suit

If the employer doesn’t fix it within 15 days, you can sue. A successful claim recovers the unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, effectively doubling what you’re owed, along with reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.⁴ A judge can reduce or wipe out the liquidated damages if the employer proves it acted in good faith. Punitive damages aren’t available under the state law.

You can also bring a claim under the federal FLSA, which offers its own unpaid wages, liquidated damages, and attorney’s fees.¹⁵ The federal statute of limitations is two years from the violation, or three years if the employer’s violation was willful.

Attorney General Enforcement

The Florida Attorney General can also sue to enforce the minimum wage. An employer found liable for an intentional violation pays a $1,000 fine per violation to the state.¹³ That route can address a pattern of underpayment across a whole workforce, not just one worker’s paycheck.

Retaliation Is Illegal

You can’t be punished for filing a wage complaint, telling others about a potential violation, or helping a coworker assert minimum wage rights. The state’s required workplace poster says so directly.¹³ Federal law backs that up: the FLSA makes it illegal to fire or otherwise discriminate against an employee for a wage complaint or for taking part in a wage proceeding.¹⁶ An employer that retaliates can be ordered to reinstate the worker and pay lost wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages.¹⁵

1
Florida Department of Commerce. 2025 Minimum Wage Poster
2
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
3
FindLaw. Florida Constitution Art X, 24 – Florida Minimum Wage
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 448.110 – State Minimum Wage; Annual Wage Adjustment; Enforcement
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15 – Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 15B – Managers and Supervisors Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Tips
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 32 – Youth Minimum Wage
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor – Full-Time Student Program
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 213 – Exemptions
11
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 12 – Agricultural Employment Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
12
eCFR. 29 CFR 780.305 – 500 Man-Day Provision
13
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 448.109 – Notification of the State Minimum Wage
14
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 216 – Penalties
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 215 – Prohibited Acts